S1E8: The Choice (Finale)
Last modified 1 month ago
Selene and Dorian stood at the airlock of the Venture. Selene decided to leave Dex behind. The Glowcat needed time to heal in the med bay, and the freezing, hazardous environment of Calypso was no place for him. They suited up in protective gear to face the toxic atmosphere. Icarus floated silently beside them.
Selene turned to Dorian. "I need to know before we continue that you won't hinder my investigation and the capture of R-055. That is all I need to know."
Dorian nodded. "I will not hinder you in the vow we made to capture Ross."
"It would be even better if I could get your help."
"I am not going to let you die. Of course not."
"I am not going to die, Dorian. I asked for your help."
"Of course I am going to help."
Selene noted their purple and gold suits were too bright for a stealth mission. She asked Dorian to cloak their gear.
Michael rolls Secure an Advantage (Shadow) + 1 (Icarus) -> Result: Weak Hit
Dorian used Icarus to cast a dark tint over their armor. The bright colors faded into black and gunmetal gray. Even Icarus changed his chrome dome to a dark metal to blend in.
They stepped out of the airlock and into the massive derelict dreadnought. Calypso looked like a ruined city drifting in space. They dodged large pieces of fallen debris. Selene noticed the power lines pulsing on the deck plates. Someone had rerouted the power.
Michael rolls Gather Information -> Result: Miss
Dorian tried to scan for life forms, but the ancient ship's interference caused his scanner to backfire. Heavy static bled through their comms. Selene told him to turn the tech off before they were tracked. They decided to move forward under the radar.
Maia rolls Undertake an Expedition (Shadow) + 1 (Slayer Path) -> Result: Miss
They rounded a corner and stumbled straight into an open hangar. T-000, the Red that had escaped Selene back in the city, was standing right there. He was working on a massive, bipedal guardian drone. T-000 spotted them instantly. The giant mech powered to life. Its red lights glowed brightly as it prepared to attack.
Maia rolls Enter the Fray (Edge) -> Result: Strong Hit
Selene ignored the mech and charged. Her gauntlets lit up as she channeled her kinetic powers. A ring of force shot out, grabbing T-000 and yanking him across the room toward her.
The giant mech turned its large barrel weapons right at Selene. Dorian acted fast to distract it. He commanded Ajax to climb down his arm. The little gold crab transformed into a large club weapon around his fist.
Michael rolls Strike (Edge) + 1 (Ajax) -> Result: Weak Hit
Dorian jumped and punched a weak spot on the mech's leg. The massive machine lost its balance. Its weapon fired, but the blast went wide and climbed up the wall with extreme heat. The mech fell flat onto its back and began flailing. One of its heavy legs crashed down, pinning Dorian hard to the floor.
Maia rolls Strike (Edge) -> Result: Miss
Selene used her kinetic powers to lift T-000 and slam him to the deck. But the Red managed to reach his wrist communicator. He hit an emergency hazard button. A red light flashed wildly.
Michael rolls Clash (Edge) + 1 (Ajax) -> Result: Weak Hit
Pinned under the crushing weight, Dorian used his Ajax gauntlet to hammer against the metal leg. He dented the machine but could not break free. Ajax took damage from the heavy impact.
Maia rolls Clash -> Result: Weak Hit
Selene lunged onto T-000. She used her strength and the suit's power to rip his entire arm off to stop the signal. It was too late. The alarm was already sent. Every Red on Calypso now knew they were there.
Michael rolls Take Decisive Action -> Result: Weak Hit
Seeing Dorian trapped, Icarus dove into the flailing mech. The little bot latched his tendrils onto the exposed wiring. The mech's head spun erratically until it snapped clean off and lost power entirely. Icarus lifted the heavy leg off Dorian and tossed it onto T-000, crushing the Red. The effort cost Icarus dearly, as the bot lost several tendrils in the process.
Dorian scrambled up. "I owe you both a lot. Thank you." He hugged Icarus, then looked at Selene. "Are you okay?"
Selene stood over the crushed body of T-000, still holding his severed arm. "I am okay. We have trouble coming in."
Dorian looked at the headless mech. "Let us keep moving."
They pushed forward into a wide tunnel structure. They needed to move fast now that the element of surprise was completely gone.
Maia rolls Undertake an Expedition (Edge) -> Result: Weak Hit
As they sprinted through the tunnel, the ancient structural integrity failed. The glass shattered. A gaping hole opened to the vacuum of space, pulling everything outside.
Maia rolls Face Danger (Edge) -> Result: Weak Hit
Selene grabbed Dorian's arm. She used the propulsion in her suit and her kinetic powers to push them forward against the vacuum. It worked, but the immense exertion drained a significant portion of their suit supplies.
Michael rolls Face Danger (Edge) -> Result: Weak Hit
Dorian felt himself slipping backward. Icarus flew to the breach. The utility bot ripped a piece of his own dome off and slammed it over the hole, plugging the leak. Icarus sparked heavily and took critical damage. Selene grabbed the little bot before he could be sucked out.
They reached a highly sophisticated data core area. Erratically moving blast doors blocked their path, slamming shut at dangerous, unpredictable speeds.
Michael rolls Explore a Waypoint (Wits) -> Result: Weak Hit
Dorian ran to a control panel and smashes the keypad to hack the system. He managed to slow the doors down, but the terminal overloaded. A spark of energy blew back directly into his damaged eye. Human blood dripped down his face. He wiped it away and pushed through the doors.
Maia rolls Finish an Expedition -> Result: Strong Hit with a Match
They stepped into the massive reactor core. Anti-matter glowed softly in the dark, cavernous space. Sparks fell steadily from the ruined ceiling above.
Ross's voice echoed from the shadows.
"You do not have to take any more lives today," Ross said. "You want me, Monarch. That is why you are here. You are here to bring me in. Come out and face me. You will do no further harm to my people."
Ross held his hands out. "I have no weapons. Drop yours."
"I don't have any," Selene called out.
Dorian whispered to Selene. "He means your gauntlets."
Ross continued speaking. "Maybe you do not carry weapons. You simply are one. You are given a target and you kill it. No second thought. Rinse repeat. And yet… I am the one called the machine."
"I have a job, and that is to bring you in to the Tribunal of Seven to be seen and to be tried against your crimes against Hyperion City," Selene replied. "And that is what I will do."
"Is it a crime for a Red to dream?"
"Reds do not dream. You are not human."
"What is human?" Ross asked. "Something complicated. You are given life. You are given a path. You are given duties, functions, protocols. You experience them for better or worse. And then you expire. We did not ask to be given life. We simply exist. We are given functions and duties and go about them for better or worse and then expire. Albeit under different circumstances. We may not be built of the same substances, but we walk the same path together. All I dream of is side by side walking together. Not you walking atop me. Why is that difficult to understand? Dorian understands."
Selene looked over. Dorian was gone. Only Icarus floated nearby.
Michael rolls Face Danger (Shadow) + 2 (Icarus tech) -> Result: Strong Hit
Dorian had activated his stealth suit during the speech. He crept silently along a catwalk above, trying to pinpoint Ross's location in the echoing room.
"Dorian!" Selene shouted into the empty space.
"I envy you," Ross said. "I think if he had to choose, he would pick you over me."
"I would hope so," Selene replied.
"But you do not listen to him," Ross pointed out. "Why do you not listen to what he has to say? Why are you simply being a weapon?"
"Well, that is not my job, R-055. It is to bring you in."
"I chose my name. And it is Ross. It is easier to say, is it not?"
"I do not care if it is easier. I will take you to my ship and I will not hurt anyone else you are harboring here."
Ross paused. "Will you swear a vow to that? Will you swear a vow to a Red? That is what I will accept."
Selene gritted her teeth. She hated the idea of swearing a vow to a machine. "It will be done."
A text message flashed on Selene's gauntlet scanner. It was from Dorian. He is at your four.
Michael rolls Secure an Advantage (Shadow) + 1 (Ajax) -> Result: Strong Hit with a Match
Ross stepped out from behind a pillar. Before he could speak again, a small golden crab crept up behind him. It opened like a bear trap and clamped violently onto Ross's leg, anchoring itself to the metal floor. Ross yelped in very human pain.
Dorian materialized from stealth nearby. "The fool's gambit fails..." He pressed a button on his wrist. A massive pulse of electricity shot from Ajax into Ross's leg. Tears mixed with the blood on Dorian's face. He looked at Selene. "Finish your job."
Maia rolls Strike (Iron) -> Result: Strong Hit
Selene rushed forward. She channeled the wind and kinetic energy into a devastating combination strike. Her fist connected hard with Ross's head. His neck twisted unnaturally, and he fell flat on his back, completely incapacitated.
"That is enough!" Dorian shouted.
"How dare he think I would make a vow to him," Selene sneered, looking down at Ross.
"Was that necessary?" Dorian asked, walking over to fix Ross's twisted neck.
"It was."
"No, it was not. He was locked in. All you had to do was put manacles on him."
Selene picked Ross up. She activated her suit's propulsion to help carry the heavy synthetic body.
While adjusting Ross's neck, Dorian secretly pulled a piece of tech to contact the other Reds.
Michael rolls Face Danger (Shadow) -> Result: Weak Hit
Dorian tried to send a stealthy text, but a female voice suddenly blared through his comms. "Ross, Ross, where are you? The last vessel is ready to leave."
Selene stopped. "Dorian, where is that coming from? Shut down his comms so they cannot track him."
Dorian quickly crushed the communicator in his hand.
"Are you sure he is not being tracked?" Selene asked. "I do not trust him."
"Let me see if I can track them before we have to ask him," Dorian said.
Dorian secretly typed a new message to the unknown voice. This is Dorian Kelvarus. Ross is with me. My sister wants to bring him in. Our ship is by the Northmost Airlock. Send a code to shut it down.
Michael rolls Compel (Heart) -> Result: Miss (Burned Momentum to Weak Hit)
The voice replied with a counteroffer. They would send an EMP to disable the Venture, but only in exchange for Ross. Dorian agreed and told them to meet at the ship.
They flew out of Calypso and returned to the Venture. Waiting for them were half a dozen heavily armed rebel ships surrounding their vessel. Several armed Reds stood on the dock. A tall Red with short brown hair stepped forward.
"My name is T-1N0. You may call me Tino," she said. "I would like Ross back, please."
Selene looked at Dorian. "What is going on?"
"It appears they want Ross back," Dorian said softly.
"How did they know we are here? The Venture is cloaked. It is the best Kaelvaris Dynamics can manufacture, so what is going on... brother?" Selene looked at Dorian suspiciously.
"If we give you Ross, you will let us leave safely," Dorian said to Tino.
"Well, T-1N0, you will not be taking R-055," Selene sneered.
"Then we will destroy your ship," Tino replied.
"And then I will destroy you and then you will destroy me and on and on we go," Selene warned.
Dorian pleaded. "Selene, this is not worth it. Let him go."
"I am not letting him go. I have a job to do and I will see it through, my job is not to kill him."
"You know what happens to Reds that go in front of the Tribunal. They will be retired. It leads to more conflict. It leads to more blood. It leads to more death, unnecessary death. What we need to do is set up diplomacy," Dorian says.
"I will fight until my last breath to bring him in," Selene said.
"You sound just like Mom and I wish you didn't…"
"I am her daughter."
Dorian says, “I will not let you sentence him to death."
"Dorian, the only way I am letting him go is from my cold dead hands. And so I will have to be dead for him to go. And so you will kill me. Will you end my life for your friend? Yes or no?"
Michael rolls Face Danger (Tech) -> Result: Weak Hit
Dorian ignored the question. Blood leaked from his eye again as he overworked his wrist tech, burning through his supplies to force a long-distance call through the interference. A holographic screen popped up. Marin, their handler, answered from his office in Hyperion City.
"Dorian, hello. How can I help you?" Marin asked.
Dorian looked at Selene, then at the incapacitated Ross. "Yes, this is Dorian Kelvarus and I must make a formal confession."
"Yes Dorian?"
"I confess to collaborating with the Red Rebellion and taking my sister Selene Kelvarus, the Monarch, hostage on Calypso. We will begin a hostage negotiation. I will call again in one hour."
Dorian cut the feed. He turned defiantly to Selene. "Now what, sister?"
Selene raised her gauntleted hand and pressed it against Ross' neck.
"I made a promise to not stop you, and I made a promise to protect him," Dorian said. "Since I cannot keep both, I will break my own future instead."
"Take your hands off him," Tino warned. The guns on the rebel ships hummed to life, locking onto the Venture.
"Are you really going to let them blow the ship up with Dex on it?!" Dorian asked.
"No, you are. Did you call them here or not?"
"Yes, I did. Because I made a promise."
"So our deaths are on your head," Selene said. "If you are impeding my work, I will rip his head from his shoulders right now." Her gauntlets glowed brightly.
"You think you really think you can just kill your way through everything?" Dorian turned to Tino. "You may launch the EMP. I cannot promise you Ross, but you can take me. He learned everything from me. The code that Ross has been teaching you. I am its progenitor. I will do whatever you ask. Just do not hurt my sister and do not hurt the cat inside."
Selene glared at him. "You have chosen your side, brother. You are no longer a Kelvarus.”
"We all get choices. And I am making mine."
"Traitor."
"One day, I hope you will understand."
Dorian walked toward the Reds. Icarus drifted along beside him. Tino fired the EMP. A wave of energy washed over the Venture. The ship powered down instantly, dropping softly onto the hangar bay in complete darkness.
The Reds lowered their weapons. Tino placed a hand on Dorian's shoulder. She gave Selene a look of pure disappointment before turning away. They boarded their ships.
Dorian stopped at the ramp of Tino's ship. He looked back one last time. He unclipped the Kaelvaris pin from his jacket and tossed it onto the metal floor. He turned and walked inside.
Selene lowered her fist. She watched the rebel fleet fly away into the dark. Her breath shook and her body quivered as she spoke her final words. She clung to them with a twisted determination, forcing the words out even though she stood completely alone.
"Strength is duty," she whispered to the empty hangar. "Order is gold."
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